Rotor brake



May 14, 1957 w. J. CASEY m ROTOR BRAKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 25,19 52 INVENTOR. @LSQy, H BY 0:}. &

May 14, 1957 w. J. CASEY m ROTOR BRAKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 25,1952 wgzwm 1/.

RUTOR BRAKE William 3. Casey 111, Chicago, 11]., assignor to AmericanSteel Foundries, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of New Jersey ApplicationJuly 25, 1952, Serial No. 300,941

13 Claims. (Cl. 188--59) The invention relates to braking mechanisms forrailway car trucks and more particularly to a novel mounting meanstherefor.

It is a primary object of my invention to pivotally attach an off-wheelbrake package arrangement to the frame of an associated railway cartruck, thereby accommodating relative vertical and horizontal movementsbe tween the package and frame.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a novel adjustmentmeans whereby full face engagement may be obtained between a frictionsurface rotatable with a wheel and axle assembly and the associatedbrake shoes carried by a brake package.

The invention further comprehends an off-wheel package brake arrangementwhich is relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture and is easilyinstalled and reliable in use.

Other novel features of the invention will become apparent in the courseof the following description and from an examination of the drawings,wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational arrangement embodying myinvention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the embodiment shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an end view taken along line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 44 of Figure2, and

Figure 5 is a detail view, partly in section, of my novel adjusterdevice.

Referring now to the drawings wherein an embodiment of the presentinvention is illustrated and is shown as applied to one-quarter of aconventional railway car truck having a frame with spaced side rails 2,interconnected intermediate its ends by the transoms 4 and adjacent itsends by the end rails 6. Adjacent the ends of the side rails, the frameis provided with depending pedestal jaws 8, 8 defining the journalopenings 10 which receive the journal boxes (not shown) adapted toengage the related ends of the wheel and axle assembly 12. A frictiondisk 14 may be secured to each wheel by any suitable means such as studsand nuts (not shown) thereby providing for common rotational movementtherewith. Each disk 14 presents friction faces 18, 18 on opposite sidesthereof.

A brake package, indicated generally at 20, comprises a housing 22having a pair of brake levers 24, 24 pivotally mounted thereon at 26, 26and projecting outwardly along opposite sides of the friction disk 14.Brake heads 28, 23 are pivotally mounted on the outer ends of the brakelevers 24, 24 by means of the bolts 30, 30 and are each provided with abrake shoe 32 for frictional engagement with the related frictionsurface 18 of the disk 14.

A brake cylinder (not shown) is conventionally mounted within thehousing 22 and, as well known to those skilled in the art, offersactuating means for the brake levers 24, 24. A fluid supply meanswhereby the 2,792,082 Patented May 14, 1957 brake cylinder may beactuated is provided at 34. A guide plate 36 is secured in abuttingengagement against the outer side of each brake head 28 by means of bolt30 and is formed with a channel-shaped portion 38 to slidably receive aguide flange 4t projecting upwardly from the cover plate 42 bolted tothe housing 22. The construction and operation of the guide plates 36and the related guide flange 40 is more particularly described in theco-pending application, Serial No. 211,515, filed February 17, 1951, inthe name of William J. Casey III now Patent No. 2,690,237.

Each transom 4 is provided with a bracket mounting 44 (Figure 4) whichmay be rigidly secured thereto by any suitable means, such as welding,in an area in substantial longitudinal alignment with the adjacentfriction disk 14. The bracket 44 consists of spaced plates 46 and 48presenting at the lower ends thereof the aligned coaxial holes 52 and54, respectively. Intermediate the plates 46 and 48 the bracket alsocomprises spaced plates 56 and 58 which present the axially alignedholes 69 and 62, said axis being substantially parallel to and spacedvertically from the first mentioned axis. Adjacent the upper end of theplate 48 another plate 64 is secured to the transom and comprises withthe upper end of plate 48 a mounting jaw 63 for the vertical adjustmentdevice hereinafter described.

The housing 22 presents on opposite sides and centrally thereof therigid mounting wings or plates 66, 68 and 70. As best seen in Figure 2,the wings 66 and 70 extend rearwardly from opposed sides of the housingand embrace, with a substantial clearance, the plates 46 and 48 of thetransom. The wing 68 also extends rearwardly but from a point centrallyon the rear wall of the housing. The wing 68 is received withsubstantial clearance intermediate the plates 56 and 58. A bolt 65provides pivotal connection between the housing 22 and the frame by itsreception within the holes 52 and 54 of the plates 46 and 4S and theholes 67, 69 and 71 of the wings 66, 68 and 70. The wing 68 alsopresents at a point adjacent its upper end the horizontally elongatedslot 72 (Figure 2), which in the assembled condition, is positionedadjacent the holes 60 and 62 of the plates 56 and 58. The holes 60 and62 and the slot 72 receive the bolt 74, thus the pivotal rotation of thehousing 22 about the bolt 65 is limited by the bolt 74 engaging theextremities of the slot 72.

As hereinbefore noted, clearance is provided between the interengagingwings of the housing 22 and the plates of the bracket 44, thusaccommodating lateral movement between the housing and said transom.Control of this desirable lateral freedom is provided by the springstructure best seen in Figure 4. As noted, the wing 68 is secured to thehousing 22 while the plates 46 and 43 are secured to the transom. Oneach side of the wing 68 spring means, preferably of equal capacity, arecompressively disposed between the wing 68 and plates 46 and 48. In thepreferred embodiment, the spring means consist of coiled springsdiagrammatically illustrated at 78 and 80 sleeved on the 'bolt 65 andseated at respective ends on the related side of the wing 68 and theassociated plate 46 and 48, respectively. The structure thus describedprovides a pivotal mounting for the brake package 20 from the frame,while enabling limited resilient movement thereof in lateral directions.

As seen in Figure l, the outboard mounting wing 70 is of irregularcontour and presents the vertically extended arm 82 to which ispivotally connected as at 84 the adjusting device indicated generally at86. It should be noted that ample lateral clearance is provided at thepivotal connection 84 between the adjusting device 86 and the arm 82(Figure 2).

As seen in Figure 5, the adjusting device 86 comprises the adjustingscrew 88 which may be pivotally connected to the mounting jaw 63 as at96. The adjusting screw 88 is in threaded engagement with the adjustingnut 92 which in turn is in threaded engagement with the body 94. Thethreaded engagement between the screw 88 and the nut 92 is preferably ofa finer pitch and of opposite hand than the threaded engagement betweenthe nut 92 and the body 94. For example, the screw 88 may have a righthanded thread with 12 threads per inch, while the nut may be left handedwith 8 threads per inch. The adjusting device 86 is provided with amechanical lock 96 to prevent accidental variation of position of thehousing 22. The lock 96 is illustrated in Figure 1 and consists of aU-shaped yoke 98 pivoted to the jaw 63 and disposed to engage opposedflats on the adjusting nut 92. The off balanced weight of the lock 96maintains it in engaged position, but it may be pivoted vertically whenmanual adjustment of the adjusting nut 92 is desired.

A safety rod 100 is secured to the side rail 2 at a point adjacent thepackage unit and depends from the side rail to loosely bracket therelated brake units. In the event of failure of the adjusting device 86and the bolt 74, safety rod 1% prevents the package unit from pivotingdownwardly and fouling the road bed or track.

In operation, the brake package 20 is pivotally mounted on the frame, asabove described. To obtain full face engagement between the brake shoes32 and the friction disk 14, the adjusting nut is rotated in the desireddirection to vary the vertical position of the brake package and theshoes 32. Under service conditions, readjustment and resetting of theshoes on the disk is easily accomplished.

During engagement of the brake shoes and friction disk, the lateralfloating mounting resiliently resists and substantially absorbs relativelateral thrust between the wheel and axle assembly and the carried framewith a minimum transmission of said thrusts to the frame.

I claim:

1. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a

wheel and axle assembly, a frame supported thereon, a

friction disk rotatable with the wheel, a brake package comprising ahousing having levers extending outwardly thereof to embrace said disk,friction shoes carried by the levers engageable with the disk, meansforming a pivotal connection between the housing and the frame havingclearance for permitting limited relative movement therebetween in thedirection of the pivot axis, an adjusting device connected to the framefor pivotal movement in a vertical direction, said device having anotherpivotal connection to the housing whereby upon adjustment of said devicethe vertical position of said brake package is altered.

2. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a wheel and axleassembly, a frame supported thereon, a friction disk rotatable with thewheel, means forming a brake unit engageable with the disk, a pivotalconnection between the unit and the frame having clearance forpermitting limited relative movement therebetween in the direction ofthe pivot axis, adjusting means having pivotal connections to the unitand frame, respectively, whereby adjustment of said means varies thevertical position of said unit.

3. A brake arrangement for a railway car truck, according to claim 2,wherein said pivotal connection comprises at least one springcompressively abutting the housing and frame, respectively, said springbeing operative to resiliently cushion relative movements between theframe and the housing in the direction of said pivot axis.

4. A brake arrangement for a railway car truck, according to claim 2,wherein said adjusting means comprises members having threadedinterconnections.

5. A brake arrangement, according to claim 4, wherein said membersinclude a body member, a nut member threaded within the body member, anda screw member threaded within the nut member.

6. A brake arrangement, according to claim 4, wherein the respectivethreaded interconnections are of different pitch and of opposite hand.

7. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a brake housing, aplurality of spaced wings extending from one side of the housing, aplurality of spaced support plates for said housing, said support platesbeing mounted on the truck, said plates and wings being interlaced,means forming a pivotal connection between at least certain of saidwings and of said plates for swinging movement of the housing, and meansforming a second connection between at least certain of said wings andof said plates at a position remote from said axis limiting pivotalswinging movement of the housing, said wings and plates being sorelatively positioned and spaced as to enable limited movementtherebetween in the directions of said axis.

8. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a brake housing,wings extending from opposite sides of the housing, another wingextending from said housing intermediate said first mentioned wings andcentrally of the housing, support plates for said housing looselyembraced by said first mentioned wings and loosely embracing said secondmentioned wing, a pivotal connection between said wings and said plates,and spring means interposed between said second mentioned wing and saidplates] 9. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a wheel andaxle assembly, a frame supported thereon, a friction surface rotatablewith said assembly, a brake unit including a friction shoe engageablewith said surface, means pivotally connecting said unit to said frame ona horizontal axis whereby lateral movement therebetween is resilientlyaccommodated, and a vertical position adjuster having pivotal connectionto the unit and frame, respectively, on axes parallel to the firstmentioned axis.

'10. A brake arrangement for a railway car truck, according to claim 9,wherein said position adjuster comprises more than two members havingthreaded interconnections of opposite hand and different pitch.

11. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a wheel and axleassembly, a frame supported thereon, a friction disk rotatable with saidassembly, a brake unit comprising a housing carrying friction shoesengageable with said disk, mounting plates on said frame, other mountingplates on said housing, the plates on the frame and housing beinginterlaced, means forming a pivotal connection between at least certainof the plates on said frame and on said housing, the plates being sorelatively positioned and spaced as to enable limited relative lateralmovement between the housing and frame, one of the mounting plates onthe housing being located centrally of the housing, and spring meansinterposed between said one central housing-mounted plate and saidframemounted plates.

12. In a brake arrangement for a railway car truck, a wheel and axleassembly, a frame supported thereon, a friction disk rotatable with saidassembly, a brake housing having brake levers extending therefrom,friction shoes pivotally carried by the levers and engageable with saiddisk, a plurality of spaced parallel mounting plates connected to theframe, a plurality of mounting wings connected to the housing anddisposed to loosely interlace with said plates, a pivotal pininterconnecting said wings and some of said plates and accommodatingrotation of said housing, coiled springs sleeved around said pin and inpressured engagement with at least one of said wings and some of saidplates, and stop means interconnecting other of said plates and at leastone of said wings whereby rotation of said housing is positivelylimited.

13. A brake arrangement for a railway car truck,

6 according to claim 12, wherein said stop means comprises 2,355,120Tack Aug. 8, 1944 a pin in slotted engagement with at least one of said2,406,048 Tack Aug. 20, 1946 wings. 2,436,136 Baselt Feb. 17, 19482,584,940 Tack Feb. 5, 1952 References Cited in the file of this patent5 2,655,226 Tack et a1. Oct. 13, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,343,342Tack Mar. 7, 1944

